1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a financial transaction processing system using an integrated circuit (IC) card. More particularly, the present invention relates to a financial transaction processing system comprising an integrated circuit having a storage area for storing data specifying a plurality of transaction accounts corresponding to a plurality of financial institutions, such as a bank and a credit company, and a terminal for selecting from such a plurality of transaction accounts a specific account which a customer wishes to select so that a transaction can be performed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently, a magnetic card such as a so-called cash card and credit card has been widely used for payment, deposit, transfer and the like through an online system in financial institutions such as a bank and a credit company. Data for identifying a customer, such as a secret number, is magnetically stored in the magnetic card. When a transaction is performed, a customer goes to a bank at which he has a bank account, with such magnetic card, where he inserts his card into a terminal such as an automatic teller machine (ATM) or a cash dispenser (CD) installed therein and enters into the terminal the data necessary for transactions, such as a secret number, and a kind of transaction and a transaction amount by operating inputting means, such as a keyboard, in accordance with predetermined procedures. The secret number information read out by the terminal and the information of each of transactions entered into the terminal by a customer are transmitted to a center of the bank, and in response to the transmitted information, a center file is renewed and then an instruction indicating that the transaction is performed is provided to the terminal. Thus, any transaction is performed between the customer and the terminal.
In addition, according to a recent online system, a communication can be made possible among different banks, in which system it is possible for a customer to make payment from his bank account by using a terminal of another bank at which he has no bank account. For example, if and when a card of "A" bank at which a customer has a bank account is used with respect to a terminal of "B" bank at which he has no bank account, the transaction data read out, in the "B" bank, from the card of "A" bank is transmitted to a center of the "B" bank, from which the data is again transferred to the center of "A" bank. Then, in the center of the "A" bank, it is determined whether there is his bank account or not and then, if there is his bank account at the "A" bank, the corresponding file is renewed in accordance with transaction information. In addition, an instruction indicating permission of a transaction is transmitted to the terminal of the "B" bank wherein a desired transaction can be achieved between the card owner and the terminal of the "B" bank.
Furthermore, according to the conventional online system, a present balance in an account, that is, an upper limit of payable amount is recorded in the card, so that cash can be dispensed within the upper limit of the payable amount recorded in the card through an offline transaction of a terminal during a time period other than the online system operating time period.
Meanwhile, in a recent social circumstances where cards such as a cash card and a credit card are increasingly used, a person usually must own several kinds of cards and select from these cards a necessary card for use. It is expected that such tendency will progressively increase. However, if each individual comes to own a plurality of cards, that is, a plurality of financial transaction accounts, a secret number must be set for each card and hence a card may be erroneously selected and/or a secret number erroneously entered, which complicates the handling and storage of the cards complicated.
In order to avoid such situation, it is desirable that data of transaction accounts corresponding to all of the financial institutions which each individual has business relations with, and a single secret number common to all of the financial institutions can be stored in a single card so that only one account that a customer is going to transact business with can be selected from these accounts.
In addition, if and when a number designates an erroneous account number which is not included in the stored account numbers, the customer can not know why the transaction is not interrupted or inhibited unless the terminal provides a response and hence the customer will be at a loss. Therefore, in such a situation, it is desirable that a terminal can show the customer that the transaction is impossible. Furthermore, if and when lack of the balance in a selected account occurs, it is desirable to give a customer a further chance to select another account number, without immediately interrupting or stopping the transaction.
In addition, in order to eliminate risks that a customer must carry excessive cash, it is desired that a system can be realized wherein a cash dispensing is made all the time (including holidays such as Saturday and Sunday) through an offline transaction in a terminal, when an online system operating time period has passed. Therefore, it is desirable that a payable balance in the account can be recorded in the card in which the data of the above described transaction accounts are stored.
However, a conventional magnetic card has a limitation with respect to storage capacity, that is, there is a problem that only information concerning a single financial institution can be stored in a single card. Furthermore, it is assumed that for payment in an offline manner, a payable balance was recorded in a card during an operating time period of an online system, in which case if and when the payment is made in an offline transaction manner after an online system operating time period has passed, the processing in the center necessary for such payent will not be made until the time of the next day at the earliest. Therefore, there is also a problem that there exists some risks that there is a time period when a difference between a actual balance and a nominal balance in the center occurs, which is a cause of unfair use.